Humanitarian

Council Holds Panel Discussion on Importance of Promotion and Protection of Civil Society Space

Tuesday, March 11, 2014
The Human Rights Council this afternoon held a panel discussion on the importance of the promotion and protection of civil society space. The discussion included a video message from Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations Secretary-General, and a statement from the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Activists: Burma's Foreign Aid Group Ban Puts Thousands at Risk

Monday, March 10, 2014
SITTWE, BURMA — In western Burma’s Rakhine state, authorities asked international aid group Doctors Without Borders (known by its French name Medecins Sans Frontieres or MSF) to cease operations after accusations of aid bias. Activists say the ban will leave nearly 700,000 people without access to much needed medical care in the country's second-most impoverished region.

Aid Workers, More on the Front Lines, Suffer Increased Attacks: Interview with Abby Stoddard

Friday, March 7, 2014
Aid worker attacks and attacks against civilian aid operations were at their highest levels last year, said Abby Stoddard, senior program adviser for humanitarian action at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation and a partner with Humanitarian Outcomes, an independent research group. Preliminary numbers show 172 major attacks on aid workers in 2013; the previous peak year was 2008, when there were 165 attacks.

Aid Groups Warn of "Catastrophic" Health Crisis in CAR

Saturday, March 8, 2014
With clashes still continuing in the Central African Republic, aid groups say the health and humanitarian situation looks set to deteriorate even further. Andrew Green reports. There is no guarantee of safety for many thousands of people living in the Central African Republic (CAR), let alone access to health care or other basic services. Months of ongoing clashes between rival militias have left at least 2000 people dead and forced 700 000 others to flee their homes for safety.

Attacks on Medical Care in Syria

Friday, February 28, 2014
Attacks on Syria's medical community and infrastructure have devastated the health-care system. Government forces – and sometimes opposition groups – have deliberately targeted medical professionals, hospitals, ambulances, and supplies, preventing untold numbers of people from getting medical care and stopping medical professionals from providing services when they are critically needed.

Medical Care Under Fire in South Sudan

Wednesday, February 26, 2014
As entire towns in South Sudan suffer devastating attacks, medical care has also come under fire, with patients shot in their beds, wards burned to the ground, medical equipment looted, and, in one case, an entire hospital destroyed, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) announced today.

Aid Group in Afghanistan Says Many Still Lack Access to Health Care

Tuesday, February 25, 2014
KABUL, Afghanistan — The patients in the four hospitals run by Doctors Without Borders in Afghanistan are the lucky ones, by all accounts, having arrived at well-stocked facilities that maintain international standards with scrupulously free care. But when the French medical aid organization, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, surveyed 800 of those patients last year, the results depicted a dismaying picture of unmet health care needs.

"No Patients, No Problems:" Exposure to Risk of Medical Personnel Working in MSF Projects in Yemen's Governorate of Amran

Tuesday, February 18, 2014
The paper explores the security incidents affecting medical humanitarian work in Yemen and the ways MSF as well as other health practitioners try to securitize their staff, facilities, patients. This reflection was born out of the high number of security incidents affecting MSF in the past three years, as much as a shared analysis by Yemeni health professionals that doctors in the country are particularly exposed to insecurity and suffer a chronic lack of respect from the patients.

Statement from World Vision on WHO's Role in Meeting the Demands of Health in Humanitarian Emergencies

Monday, January 27, 2014
Marie Durling of World Vision presented the following statement to the Executive Board of the World Health Organization on January 25 in Geneva: Statement from World Vision on item 13.2M, WHO’s response, and role as the health cluster lead, in meeting the growing demands of health in humanitarian emergencies (resolution WHA 65.20).

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